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1783-1787 From Confederacy to Republic

1783-1787 From Confederacy to Republic. What were the challenges facing the newly independent nation?. Articles of Confederation (Adopted in 1777 – Ratified in 1781). Problems addressed by the A-of-C : Problem: Fear of a strong central government. Solution:

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1783-1787 From Confederacy to Republic

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  1. 1783-1787From Confederacy to Republic

  2. What were the challenges facing the newly independent nation?

  3. Articles of Confederation(Adopted in 1777 – Ratified in 1781) Problems addressed by the A-of-C: Problem: Fear of a strong central government. Solution: Problem: Representation in Conf. Congress. Solution:

  4. Powers Granted, and Powers Deniedto the Confederation Congress GRANTED • Power to wage war • Make treaties • Send diplomats abroad • Borrow money • Regulate the currency • Establish a postal service • Regulate Indian Affairs DENIED • Power to regulate trade • Levy & collect taxes • Enforce its own laws

  5. What were the accomplishments of the Articles of Confederation?

  6. State Constitutions: Experiments in Government State constitutions invaluable experience Five Basic Reoccurring Elements: • Higher Law & Natural Rights – The purpose of government is to protect life, liberty, and property. • Social Contract – people created the government to protect their natural rights. • Popular Sovereignty – Authority to govern was granted to the government by the people. People > ultimate source of power.

  7. State Constitutions: Experiments in Government Five Basic Reoccurring Elements: • Representation & Right to Vote – All state constitutions instilled the importance of representation of the people in their govt. • Legislative Supremacy – Most power in the legislature. States incorporate some manner of separation of powers.

  8. The Model from Massachusetts • Made extensive use of separation of power & checks and balances. • Created a strong Executive Branch: (What was Adams thinking?) • Governor to be independent of the legislature. (fixed salary) • Governor to check the power of the legislature. (veto & appointment powers) *Massachusetts State Constitution expressed the classical republican ideal of mixed government as a means to prevent the abuse of power. John Adams

  9. Problems in Foreign Affairs • British still maintained • forts along the • Canadian frontier. • The British refused to • withdraw until debts to • Britain & loyalists were • indemnified. • Spain controlled the mouth • of the Mississippi River. • Spain also maintained forts • along its common frontier.

  10. Shays’s Rebellion (1786-87) Economic Distress in MA: • Heavy taxes to pay of war debt. • Post-war depression in Atlantic trade. • Many faced foreclosure & debtors prison. • Western farmers pressed for relief. Blocked by eastern commercial interests. Rebellion or Rural Protest?

  11. Shays’s Rebellion (1786-87) Popular Protest: • Farmers use same tactics they used against Britain. • Town meetings expanded into county conventions, which escalated into crowd actions to prevent courts from meeting. • Gov. Bowdoin sends the state militia, which crushes the rebellion.

  12. Shays’s Rebellion (1786-87) The Massachusetts uprising dramatized the growing unrest in the new nation, and symbolized to a growing number of conservatives a republic in peril. Nationalists seized upon the specter of Shays’s Rebellion to underscore the weakness of the Articles of Confederation.

  13. Annapolis Convention - 1786 • Hamilton organizes an interstate meeting at Washington’s Mt. Vernon to discuss issues. • Five states send delegates to the Annapolis Convention to discuss interstate trade. • Outcome: Called for a larger meeting the following year in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation.

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